Back to EveryPatent.com
United States Patent | 6,227,737 |
Lightfoot | May 8, 2001 |
An applicator for applying a fluid to a surface includes an applicator tip element (5) connected to the end of a substantially rigid stem (1) by a part (3) capable of flexing resiliently as the applicator tip element is stroked across a surface. The application element is conveniently formed as a pad or a molded member of porous material e.g. foam, which can be attached in various ways, e.g. by of adhesive, heat welding or mechanical fixing, to the resiliently flexible connection part.
Inventors: | Lightfoot; Mark Roger (Reading, GB) |
Assignee: | The Gillette Company (Boston, MA) |
Appl. No.: | 096816 |
Filed: | June 12, 1998 |
Dec 15, 1995[GB] | 9525696 |
Current U.S. Class: | 401/129; 15/209.1; 15/244.1; 118/264; 132/317; 132/320; 401/130 |
Intern'l Class: | A46B 011/00 |
Field of Search: | 15/104.94,143.1,144.1,144.2,209.1,244.1,244.2 118/264 132/317,318,320 401/129,130 604/1 |
720051 | Feb., 1903 | Moss et al. | 15/143. |
933938 | Sep., 1909 | Windle et al. | 401/264. |
1828485 | Oct., 1931 | Allen | 401/202. |
2282406 | May., 1942 | Hollenbeck | 401/264. |
2291676 | Aug., 1942 | Baker | 401/130. |
2314539 | Mar., 1943 | Hollenbeck | 401/264. |
2397080 | Mar., 1946 | Baker | 401/130. |
2409933 | Oct., 1946 | Fleisher et al. | 401/264. |
2453201 | Nov., 1948 | Cushman | 401/207. |
2481803 | Sep., 1949 | Weaver | 401/207. |
3134124 | May., 1964 | Horn | 15/244. |
3262461 | Jul., 1966 | Kambersky | 401/129. |
3554657 | Jan., 1971 | Aston | 401/122. |
3568236 | Mar., 1971 | Aston | 15/244. |
3684389 | Aug., 1972 | Eron et al. | 401/207. |
4208145 | Jun., 1980 | Azuma | 401/196. |
4496258 | Jan., 1985 | Tanaka et al. | 401/206. |
4509540 | Apr., 1985 | Inagaki | 132/320. |
4627454 | Dec., 1986 | Dahm | 132/318. |
4712266 | Dec., 1987 | Yamaki | 15/167. |
4712571 | Dec., 1987 | Remz et al. | 132/320. |
4747419 | May., 1988 | Flynn et al. | 132/73. |
4749618 | Jun., 1988 | Kawaguchi et al. | 428/375. |
4792252 | Dec., 1988 | Kremer et al. | 401/206. |
4812071 | Mar., 1989 | Batra et al. | 401/264. |
4813463 | Mar., 1989 | Lin | 141/351. |
4824271 | Apr., 1989 | Nagahama et al. | 401/196. |
4848947 | Jul., 1989 | Kremer et al. | 401/206. |
4913175 | Apr., 1990 | Yokosuka et al. | 132/317. |
4923317 | May., 1990 | Bishop et al. | 401/205. |
4960340 | Oct., 1990 | Tamiya et al. | 401/186. |
4984923 | Jan., 1991 | Ota | 401/279. |
5001803 | Mar., 1991 | Discko, Jr. | 604/1. |
5035524 | Jul., 1991 | Sakurai | 401/206. |
5073058 | Dec., 1991 | Fukuoka et al. | 401/260. |
5082386 | Jan., 1992 | Hironaka et al. | 401/206. |
5096322 | Mar., 1992 | Shiga et al. | 401/199. |
5199976 | Apr., 1993 | Yau et al. | 523/161. |
5299877 | Apr., 1994 | Birden | 401/206. |
5306755 | Apr., 1994 | Yau et al. | 524/296. |
5387046 | Feb., 1995 | Danno | 401/260. |
5411345 | May., 1995 | Ueji et al. | 401/206. |
5480250 | Jan., 1996 | Birden | 401/199. |
5716150 | Feb., 1998 | Gueret | 401/129. |
6033143 | Mar., 2000 | Gueret | 401/129. |
Foreign Patent Documents | |||
3024381 | Jan., 1982 | DE | 132/320. |
3303-341 | Aug., 1984 | DE. | |
0 053 573 | Oct., 1981 | EP. | |
0 119 506 | Feb., 1984 | EP. | |
641045 | Jul., 1928 | FR. | |
682638 | May., 1930 | FR. | |
989064 | Sep., 1951 | FR. | |
1269178 | Jul., 1961 | FR. | |
18586 | Aug., 1914 | GB. | |
775009 | May., 1957 | GB. | |
907102 | Oct., 1962 | GB. | |
2 169 562 | Jul., 1986 | GB. | |
2 216 785 | Oct., 1989 | GB. | |
2 231 490 | Nov., 1990 | GB. | |
2-102100 | Apr., 1990 | JP. | |
9212863 | Aug., 1992 | WO. | |
WO 97/21554 | Jun., 1997 | WO. |